AUSTRALIA
History, Culture and Info of the smallest continent
Australia as a country
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Australia is a country in the Southern
Hemisphere between the Pacific Ocean
and the Indian Ocean. It’s official name is
the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia
is the sixth biggest country in the world by
landmass.
22 milion people live in Autralia. About
60% live in and around the mainland state
capitals like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane,
Perth and Adelaide. Australia’s capital city
is Cannberra
Geography

Australia, New Guinea, New
Zeland and many other
islands on the Australian
tectonic plate are together
calles Australasia. They form
one of the world’s greater
ecozone. When other Pacific
islands are included, the
term is Oceania.
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Australia's landmass of 7,617,930 square
kilometers is on the Indo-Australian plate.
The continent of Australia, including the island of
Tasmania, was separated from the other continents
of the world many millions of years ago. Because of
this, many animals and plants live in Australia that
are not found anywhere else. These include animals
like the kangaroo, the koala, the emu, the
kookaburra, and the platypus.
People first arrived in Australia more than 50,000
years ago. These native Australians are called the
Australian Aborigines . For the history of Australia,
see History of Australia.
Most of the Australian colonies, having been settled
from Britan, became mostly independent democratic
states in the 1850s and all six combined as a
federation on 1of the January 1901
Exploration
Because Australia is such a very large land, it was easy to think
that it might be able to hold a very large number of people. In the
early days of the colony, a great number of explorers went out,
searching for good land to settle on. When the settlers looked west
from Sydney, they saw a range of mountains which they called the Blue
Mountians. They were not very high and did not look very rugged but
for many years no-one could find their way through them. In
1813 Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and a 17 year-old
called William Charles Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains and
found land on the other side which was good for farming. A road was
built and the Governor Lachlan Macquarie founded the town
of Bathurst on the other side, 100 miles from Sydney.
The Commonwealth of Australia
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Until 1901, Australia was not a nation, it was six
separate colonies governed by Britain. They voted to join together to form
one new country, called the Commonwealth of Australia, in 1901. Australia
was still part of the British Empire, and for at first wanted only British or
Europeans to come to Australia. But soon it had its own money, and its own
Army and Navy.
Culture
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Australia was colonised by people
from Britain but today people from all
over the world live there. English in the
main spoken language, and Christianity is
the main religion though all religions are
accepted and not everybody has a
religion. Australia is multicultural, which
means that all its people are helped to
keep their different languages, religions
and ways of life, while also
learning English and joining in with other
Australians.
Politics
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Australia is made up of six states and three mainland territories
. Each of state and territory has its own Parliament and makes its
own local laws. The Parliament of Australia sits in Canberra and
makes laws for the whole country, also known as the
Commonwealth or Federation.
The Federal government is led by the Prime Minister of
Australia, who is the member of Parliament chosen as leader.
The current Prime Minister is Julia Gillard, who replaced Kevin
Rudd, elected in June 2010. She is the leader of a political
party called the Australian Labor Party. The other main party is
the Liberal Party
The leader of Australia is the Prime Minister, although
the Governor-General represents the Queen of Australia, who is
also the Queen of Great Britain, as head of state. The
Governor-General, currently, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce, is
chosen by the Prime Minister.
Thanks for watching my presentation
KLAUDIA DUPLICKA KLASA 3B
czerwiec 2011